Lessons Learned in Software Testing (Paperback)

by Cem Kaner (Author), James Bach (Author), Bret Pettichord (Author) "What are testers supposed to do for a project?..." (more)
Key Phrases: nonreproducible bugs, test automation, local network disk, Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"...a refreshing and enjoyable book…it will not be 'shelf-ware', but a well-used reference..." -- Software Testing, Verification & Reliability, March 2003

"...will make fascinating reading…highly recommended..." -- CVu, Dec 03

"If testing is something that is going to be an important part of your career buy this book and read it carefully." (CVu - Jnl of the Association C & C++ Users, February 2002)

"...a real gemfor me, this book is one that I shall find usefuleach and every test department should have several copies available...be prepared to be inspired, or at the very least to have your ideas challenged..." (Professional Tester, September 2002)

"...a refreshing and enjoyable bookit will not be 'shelf-ware', but a well-used reference..." (Software Testing, Verification & Reliability, March 2003)

"...will make fascinating readinghighly recommended..." (CVu, Dec 03)

...a refreshing and enjoyable book; it will not be 'shelf-ware', but a well-used reference... -- Software Testing, Verification & Reliability, March 2003

"If testing is something that is going to be an important part of your career buy this book and read it carefully." -- CVu - Jnl of the Association C & C++ Users, February 2002

Review
"...part of a rare breed of informative books which are both accessible to beginners whilst still being of great use to experts. No matter how much you know about software testing, Kaner, Bach and Pettiford still have a few lessons to teach you..." (M2 Communications, 7 June 2002)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (December 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471081124
• ISBN-13: 978-0471081128
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,615 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read a few at a time, January 10, 2002

By	Pat McGee (Falls Church, VA, USA) - See all my reviews

This book contains 293 "Lessons". Each seems to be meant for people with certain experiences and certain problems; some very broadly defined, others more tightly. So, how do I grade 293 lessons? One way would be to average them, another to pick on the worst (from my point of view). I choose to pick out the ones that hit me the hardest; the best from my point of view.

I've been a developer, a tester, a test manager, and am now a grad student studying testing with Dr. Kaner. This book was the proximate cause of the last. If I had had this book a couple of years ago, I believe I would have done a much better job as test manager, and my project would have succeeded better with our customer. This is the second best book on testing that I've ever read.

By the time I saw Lesson 31, I had already learned it the hard way. "A Requirement is a quality or condition that matters to someone who matters." It doesn't matter what the requirements document says; you ignore the opinion of someone who matters at your peril. I did.

Lesson 57: "Make your bug report an effective sales tool." My bug reports developed a pretty good reputation with most of the developers, so I quit paying as much attention to putting convincing arguments in them. Then, we got some new senior developers. I was back at square one without quite realizing how I got there. Don't do that.

Lesson 235: "Staff the testing team with diverse backgrounds." When I became test manager, I looked for people like me: computer science degree with developer experience. Well, such people don't work as testers, especially for the location and money we offered. I first hired a young woman with Army training. Later, I figured out how lucky I had been; she was one of the two best testers who worked for me. I learned a lot about my blind spots from her pointing them out to me. I'd hate to have tried to do the job without her or many of the other people very different from me (and her) that I hired.

Lesson 240 "During the interview, have the tester demonstrate the skills you're hiring for." After having a lot of bad results from traditional interviewing, we wrote a series of tests and gave the appropriate one (testing, SQL, C++, etc.) to each candidate. Afer that, we found our rate of bad hires was down sharply. We hired several people whom we would not have hired based on our traditional interview questions; almost all turned out well.

What am I learning? Lesson 17: "Studying epistemology helps you test better." I hope so; I'm studying it. Lesson 76: "Always report nonreproducible errors; they may be time bombs." I'm keeping more lists of these now. No good results yet. Lesson 266: "Learn Perl." Yep, there's more than one way to do it.

(BTW, the best book on testing I've ever read is Testing Computer Software, 2nd. Kaner, Falk, Nguyen.)

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book, but not a tutorial, February 10, 2004

By	Richard Cowand "rcmeister" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I noticed that many of the reviewers listed above are noted SW testing professionals that have published books themselves. I also noticed that these same professionals tend to supply glowing reviews for each other. I think this might lead to a bit of a bias that could mislead ordinary folks looking for a good reference tool to help them do their job.

I've been in the SW test business for several years and have used Cem Kaner's "Testing Computer Software 2nd Edition" as a bible for many years. Mr. Kaner's "Lessons Learned in Software Testing" is a great help for both rookies and seasoned veterans alike, but mainly for anecdotal wisdom. I wish I had the opportunity to read this book early in my career, it would have prevented some of the painful lessons I've learned about the testing business. At the same time, portions of this book are opinions and observations, and should be read with an open mind, but not read as gospel. I often read sections of this book to reassure myself that my actions/decisions/processes are sound.

This book is not a "how to" guide with sample forms and processes to follow, but a very useful collection of wisdom from some of the best minds in testing. Think of this book as three wise people sharing their knowledge with anyone willing to listen (or ante up the bucks to buy the book).

38 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for the professional tester or test manager, January 4, 2002

By	Sam Guckenheimer (Acton, MA United States) - See all my reviews

If you test software, or depend on people who do, then read this book. Each page effervesces with hard-won advice for handling the practical problems you encounter every day.

Software testing is an increasingly complicated discipline that suffers from too much liturgy, too little experience and too many conflicting theories. Kaner, Bach, and Pettichord balance this with a wealth of practical, empirical knowledge. In particular, their emphasis on the contextual factors of software testing brings out the value in understanding conflicting points of view.

This book will help you be a better tester or test manager. I expect to refer to it every week.